The Forgotten Room by Troup Ann

Author:Troup, Ann [Troup, Ann]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: amazon, Thriller
ISBN: 9780008181222
Google: 0GCZCwAAQBAJ
Publisher: HarperCollins UK
Published: 2017-10-24T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter Sixteen

Poole was buying: a pint for Gallan, a G&T for the DCI, Jack Daniels and Coke for Kelsoe and an orange juice for himself. He never had been fond of alcohol but accepted, though didn’t understand, the urge to drink in others. He supposed he might be a bit of a control freak, and had been accused of it plenty of times, but overall preferred to think of himself as someone who kept his feet on the ground. Maybe the two things were the same.

Mercifully Kelsoe took her drink and went off to yap to the other DCs, and the DCI cornered himself with the DI, who’d not so discreetly bought herself a bottle of red. Poole was left with Gallan, who sipped his beer like a schoolgirl and didn’t question the orange juice – saving Poole the lie of telling him there was a double vodka in it. They all knew he only ever stopped for one and always bought the first round, so he’d managed to maintain the pretence of being one of the “lads” for a long time. He wasn’t a fan of the juice either, but sipped it anyway and wondered why they couldn’t all go to a café and have a decent cup of tea instead. He supposed they had an image to maintain, even though it had been clichéd to death by TV dramas and had bred the need for them all to be seen as flawed yet brilliant. The thought of that made him laugh. As a team they did the flawed bit superbly, but not in a compelling, intriguing way – it was more a bungle it and lurch forward approach that smacked of confusion and misapprehension. Still, who was he to deny them their fantasy that they were a crack team of slick professionals? All he knew was that they were slick at getting pissed and getting nowhere.

‘Penny for them?’ Gallan said.

Poole smiled. ‘Not worth the penny, mate.’

Gallan sipped at his pint, then stared into its depths for a moment, as if scrying for something. ‘I’ve been meaning to ask, what’s the deal with you and the Lyle woman?’

Poole sighed. He’d been waiting for someone to ask. ‘No big deal for me. A bigger one for her, though.’

Gallan shrugged, looking as if he was trying to imply this was just pub banter. ‘She said it was a personal matter and that if I was curious I should ask you.’

‘Are you asking if I really let her get away with slapping me?’

Gallan shrugged again. ‘I must admit I’m curious. I don’t really see you as the type to let that kind of shit go.’

‘It was a while ago, and if I’m honest I kind of deserved it at the time – well, someone did, and I just happened to be the one standing in the way.’

‘Oh aye, how come?’

Poole nodded and rotated his glass on its sodden beer mat. ‘I was seconded a few years ago for an undercover job. We

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